Wordless Wednesday

Owen is 1!!

Boy did that year fly by fast!!  I still couldn't believe he was one on the morning of his 1st birthday and I'm not sure it's fully hit me a week later.  This past month has been a real exciting one and I was finally able to really see the transition from baby to toddler.  I guess it's going to happen whether I like it or not...my baby boy is growing up!  Here are some exciting things about Owen at 12 months:

-has started imitating a lot of the things we do (making faces, noises, hand motions, etc.)

-loves to boggie woogie to any type of music

-Where's Spot is his new favorite book

-can scale a flight of stairs in no time

-loves to drink out of a straw

-takes two 1.5 hour naps or one long 3 hour nap depending on the day

-favorite foods are vanilla yogurt, bread, watermelon and bananas

-likes to cuddle for a little while when he wakes up

-has started to repeat sounds that we make and "talk" a lot more

-loves it when I sing to him, especially "You are my Sunshine"

-says his brother's name "Ah-Tinnnn"

-weighs 21lbs. (27th %tile) and is 30.25 inches tall (67th%tile)

-his head measures 19.2 inches (96th %tile)

-can stand up without holding on and push to the standing position on his own

-still not full on walking, but will take a few steps at a time when he feels like it (maybe he's having a hard time not toppling over while trying to balance that big 'ole head on his tiny shoulders!)  :-)

-favorite activities include reading books, listening to music, swinging, climbing in the kitchen cabinets, going to Monkey Joe's, taking a bath, laughing, cuddling with mommy and putting everything in his mouth!

Owen has been an absolute blessing and has added so much joy and happiness to our lives.  I couldn't have asked for a sweeter little boy!  Even though he's only been with us a year, I can't picture my life without him.

Happy 1st Birthday, Owen!  Mommy and Daddy love you soooo much!!  (and Austin too!)

A Very Happy Mother's Day

I know I've got A LOT of catching up to do...but for now I just couldn't wait to share about my Mother's Day!  It was nothing fancy, no expensive gifts, but it was a wonderful day to say the least.  One of the highlights was a fabulous 2 hour mid-morning nap which my husband so generously granted me, even though he had been in Greenville all day the day before working on the house and didn't get home until after 3am this morning.  After several long nights unpacking and getting settled in the new house, a nap was just what I needed!

After my nap I woke up to a clean living room, two babies in their beds asleep and a casserole my mother-in-law had sent warming up in the oven.  Now that's the way to wake up from a nap!!!  The clean and quiet house didn't last long, but that was fine because I was itching to get out and do some more exploring in our new town.

Later in the afternoon we headed down the road to Frank Liske Park to enjoy some time outdoors and let the boys play.  Austin's new found love is swinging on the big kid swings and going "super fast."  Owen enjoyed watching all the people flying kites, sliding down the slide and doing a little swinging of his own.  It was a beautiful day and being able to spend that time outside in the sunshine with my beautiful family on Mother's Day was the most wonderful gift I could have asked for!!!

After the park we all enjoyed a nice dinner out and then came home and got the boys ready for bed.  Once they were asleep we finally tackled the 4 remaining boxes in the kitchen, got everything unpacked and put it all in its proper place.  Probably not most people's way to unwind after a long day, but I seriously can't stand clutter, so getting the kitchen set up and straightened was quite the exciting task to accomplish!

All three of my boys are in bed asleep right now, but I couldn't wait a minute longer to get on my computer and upload the pictures from this afternoon.  This particular one is certainly a favorite from the day...

Lastly, I just want to say Happy Mother's Day to all the wonderful, kind, hard working, loving moms out there.  As my mama has always said, being a mother is one of the toughest jobs there is, but it's also by far the most rewarding!  And as the mother of a 2 year old and a 1 year old...I can tell you right now, that's about one of the truest statements I've ever heard.

Owen's 1st Year

Happy 1st Birthday Owen!!

We're here, we're moved, we're unpacking, but most importantly we're celebrating Owen's 1st birthday!
Excuse the short post, but I'm typing on my phone since we won't have internet until Friday.  But I do want to share a quick picture of the birthday boy before I go...

Later, Alligator!

Well, moving day is finally upon us.

This morning our moving company sent out two ladies to pack up the remainder of our house.  They were here from 9-5 and only managed to pack up about half of the house.  Keep in mind we have already loaded and moved two completely full18 ft. U-Hauls.  I think I am finally realizing that we really do just have way too much stuff.  I guess that is just what happens when Mr. Pack-Rat marries Mrs. Disorganization...

So, tomorrow they come to finish the packing and load the trucks and by Wednesday we should be unloaded and spending our first night in our new home.  Know what else Wednesday is??  It's Owen's 1st birthday!!!

Yep, my sweet baby boy will wake up on the morning of his first birthday in an unfamiliar hotel room 100 miles away from the only home he's ever known.  Awesome.  See, I had been imagining this wonderful morning of greeting my baby in his crib on the morning of his birthday and taking a picture of the huge grin on his face as I sang to him, and then whisking him downstairs to enjoy some homemade pancakes and watching his face light up as he opened a tower of perfectly wrapped gifts...

Instead, however, we will be reluctantly waking up after a long (and probably sleepless) night in a cramped hotel room, heading to the local IHOP for breakfast and then spend the rest of the day unpacking boxes and setting up the house.  I won't lie, I'm a little bitter about the whole situation, I can't help it.  The timing is horrible.....but you know what.....next week when Ryan gets home from work every day before dark, gets to see his boys each night before bed, has saved $300+ in gas money, and isn't miserable and exhausted from working hard and driving all day.....it'll more than make up for it.   Oh, we will celebrate Owen's birthday.  It may not be the way that I had imagined, but on his birthday Owen is getting one of the greatest presents of all.  He's getting his daddy back!!!

Ahhh...ok, now that I've gotten all the sappiness out of the way, here are some photos of dinner in our house this evening:

Yep, we're staring at the towers of boxes now lining our kitchen while eating delivery pizza off of paper towels on the living room floor and drinking out of Owen's bottles (sans nipple of course).  Guess who forgot to lay out some plates, silverware and cups before they were all packed away.....

Juice Box

Coconuts are Falling Down

Remember when I said 2.5 was my favorite age??  Well, it keeps getting better and better.  Austin has started making up songs lately and it's quite amusing and pretty stinkin' cute as well.  At first they were just kind of jumbled words put to familiar tunes or he would just talk to us in a sing-song voice, but last week he actually came up with a truly original song and continues to sing it on a daily basis.

It's sung to the tune of London Bridge:

Coconuts are falling down

Falling down

Falling down

Coconuts are falling down

on pirates heads!

Oh what imaginations these little ones have!!

Happy Easter!

This Easter might have been one of the best I've had in a long time.  The boys woke us up early, as usual, and we enjoyed some family time and played with all the goodies the Easter Bunny brought!

We made the 9am service at church and enjoyed a very beautiful and moving sermon.  Afterwards, we came home, let Owen take a quick nap and I baked our Easter cupcakes while Ryan and Austin played.  My mother-in-law came over around lunch time and we went and had a delicious lunch at Bonefish.

After lunch we came back to the house and hung out for awhile before nap time....for all 4 of us!  It.was.wonderful!  I can't remember the last time the entire family was able to take a nap together for more than a few minutes.  So nice, and so needed.

After naps it was time for an Easter egg hunt in the backyard.  Ryan hid the eggs, but he seriously underestimated Austin's finding ability.  He found every last one in less than 10 minutes I believe!  Poor Owen didn't even have a chance, but I imagine he'll give Austin a run for his money come next Easter!

After hunting eggs for awhile, we went back out to meet our friends Charley, Stefania, Sofia and new baby Bondurant (due in December)!  Austin and Sofia are always so cute and sweet when they get together.  They're only a week apart in age and it's interesting to see just how similar they really are.  They were copying everything the other one did and giving each other hugs and kisses, but they had the most fun climbing into one for the empty chairs and sitting beside each other and yelling "Cheeeeeese!" for the camera.  Absolutely precious and a perfect end to our wonderful Easter!

Spring Things

I know Easter is much more than bunnies and baskets and colored eggs, but when you have kids, those things really make celebrating the holiday just a little bit more fun!

Lets start with dyeing eggs...

As you can probably imagine, Austin had a blast dyeing our Easter Eggs.  He wanted to get his fingers in the dye so bad and could hardly wait for the eggs to finish.  Patience is a difficult thing for a 2 year old!  Putting on the stickers was pretty exciting, but his favorite part was playing with the eggs after we were done.  He wanted to carry his basket of eggs all around the house and take them out and put them back in.  He would admire each one and kept saying that he needed to go tell the Easter Bunny about the eggs he made.  The "playing" quickly resulted in two cracked eggs, however, and mommy having to hide the basket for awhile.

By the time Ryan got home, Austin could hardly contain his excitement to go see the Easter Bunny.  I had shown him some pictures my friends had posted on Facebook of their kids with the bunny and Austin thought it was just about the greatest thing he'd ever seen and couldn't wait to go and meet that big bunny himself.

We finally got to the mall and of course the bunny was on break.  A few minutes later we spotted him walking back to his chair and Austin started jumping up and down and screaming like he was a teenage girl front row at a Justin Bieber concert.  We waited in line and watched at least 6 kids walk up the the bunny, scream in terror, cry and run away.  I was getting a little worried, but come our turn my worries went right out the window. Both boys loved him!  I don't think Austin understood why the bunny wasn't talking back to him when he told him all about the eggs he had made, but he sat there and talked to him anyway.  Owen was mesmerized by the big fluffy guy whose lap he was sitting in but managed to look away for a few seconds to give us cute little grin.

Austin keeps asking us to take him back to see the Easter Bunny...
Luckily, we have our own little bunny right here that he can see anytime he wants to!

Moving - Round 1

By the time it's over I'm sure you're ALL going to be tired of hearing me talk about our move....but just bear with me for now, it is currently consuming my life and I have little else to talk about.

So, the house goes on the market Friday and our realtor expects to have showings lined up by next week.  Ryan is in the middle of "H-E-double hockey sticks" week at work right now and has slept only 2 hours since waking up Monday morning.  It might not sound that bad, except for the fact that he is working through the night once again and may not sleep anymore until sometime late Wednesday night. Ahh...the fun life of a patent attorney (and his wife)...

Knowing that this was going to be a crazy week, last Saturday, with a spur of the moment idea, we decided to rent an 18 ft. U-Haul, load it in the middle of the night (since the boys were sleeping) with random items that served no purpose but to add clutter to our home, and then drive up to Charlotte on Sunday morning to move it in.  After all, they say the less "stuff" you have in your house the better it shows!

We got on the road early Sunday and 1hr45min later we were exiting off onto Harris Blvd., driving past the giant IKEA, making our way through the campus of UNC Charlotte, entering Cabarrus county and finally turning into our driveway.  And yes, the dorky sentimental side of me took a picture...

Austin loved running around the empty house and quickly claimed the living room as his new bedroom.  I hate to break it to him, but he's probably not going to get his first choice.  Owen found the staircase within mere seconds of walking through the door and made a b-line for it every time I let him down.  Eventually, Austin got bored of running from one empty room to the next and thought he would be of more use outside unloading the truck with daddy.  He spotted his toy wagon and continued to follow Ryan up and down the ramp with it for a good 30 minutes.  And when Ryan took a break from unloading, Austin rolled his toy cars down the ramp over and over again....until he found a box of baseballs and decided he wanted to throw them in the truck, race up to retrieve them, and then roll them all down the ramp and back into the garage.  He literally "had a ball!"  I mean really, it might have been his most exciting afternoon in recent memory.  I just might be considering renting out another giant U-Haul and holding his next birthday party in the back of it.

Before we left to go back to Greenville, we were lucky enough to see some of our new neighbors outside and so we went over to introduce ourselves.  Wouldn't you know it...a family with two little boys, the youngest about to turn two, named Owen.  

How perfect!  

Off he goes....to the stairs....again....

That blur coming towards you would be Austin running (of course) full speed ahead! 

So glad we packed the walker. Owen?  Not so much.

That's better!

The Difference

It's rare I see both my boys standing side by side,
but when I do,

it reminds me just how fast these little ones grow in the beginning.  

Wow, what a difference 18 months makes!

2.5

Austin is officially 2.5 today!  I pretty much quit doing monthly posts about him when he turned 2 because it got to be too much to keep up with.  He literally does and/or says something new every.single.day.  He is learning at lightspeed and talking non-stop....and I mean seriously non-stop....like, I have to turn up the radio in the car sometimes to try and tune him out just so I can concentrate on what I'm doing and where I'm going.  Every minute of every day is an adventure with him and it's pretty awesome.

I say this all the time, I know, but THIS is my favorite age.  Don't get me wrong, I love my boys at ANY age, but to be honest, if I could skip the whole 9 months of pregnancy thing, go straight into the delivery room and give birth to a baby, have a newborn for about 3 months and then fast forward to age 2.5....well, you could call me the next Michelle Duggar!  However, considering I hate being pregnant and am doing everything in my power to remain sane right now while trying to raise a 2.5 year old and an almost 1 year old together in harmony...there will likely not even be a baby Harris #3.  Mom...JoAnn, I love you both dearly, but my sanity is much more important right now than attempting to give you a granddaughter!  Try me again in 5 years...

But anyway, let's talk about my favorite 2.5 year old and what he's been up to lately.  Here are 30 interesting facts about my 30 month old!!

-His favorite food is oatmeal and he'd eat it for every meal if I let him.

-He can count to 30...and probably higher, but he loses interest around 30 and usually just stops there.

-Loves to sing!  A few of his favorites are Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star, Happy Birthday, Chicka Chicka Boom Boom, Itsy Bitsy Spider, the ABC song, and Wheels on the Bus.  I am not allowed to sing with him though because he wants to make sure he can hear himself.

-Says his first name is Austin and his last name is Austin Harris

-Every time we get in the car he says we are going to one of the following: Charlotte, the car wash, CVS, to get his hair cut, Monkey Joes, the playground, to watch planes fly, Little Gym, or to Target to get popcorn.

-Loves to write the letter 'A' and says "up, down, cross" when he's writing it.

-His favorite activity is to take all the cushions off the couch and drive his cars on the base

-Talks to random people all the time whenever we're out.  He definitely didn't get that outgoing personality from his super-shy mom...

-Will repeat a sentence over and over and over until you acknowledge what he's saying

-If you sound out a word he can tell you what letter it starts with

-Still can't go an entire day without a nap

-Thinks he's being hilarious when he gives blatantly wrong answers to questions I ask. Such a little joker!

-Will stop whatever he's doing and come give me a hug if I say that I'm scared.

-Loves to watch the garbage truck come by every Tuesday morning

-Speaking of garbage, his favorite book is "I Stink!"

-Still talks about monster trucks on a daily basis

-Loves anything with an engine...cars, trucks, trains, planes, school buses, dump trucks, bulldozers...I could go on and on...

-Can't go to the mall without riding the escalator a few dozen times...

-Hates it when he gets his clothes wet or his hands dirty

-Uses the potty by himself when were at home (more to come on this later)

-Will say just about anything to delay bedtime.  Most commonly used are "One more book" "I'm hungry, I need snack"  "I need to go pee pee in the potty" and "I need to throw up."

-Most of the time he just calls me Mom

-Has a love/hate relationship with his little brother now that his little brother is old enough to follow him around and take his things

-Can do a perfect somersault

-Will drink just about anything as long as he can use a straw

-Knows left from right and has an amazing sense of direction

-Says "thank you" without being asked

-He's the star student in his Little Gym class and yes, it makes me very proud!

-Asks me all the time to take pictures of him doing random things or making silly faces and then wants to see the picture I took immediately after.

-He constantly amazes me with his random knowledge.  For instance, yesterday evening after leaving the grocery store he looked up and saw the moon even though it was only 6pm.  He said, "Look Mom, I see the moon, that means it's going to get dark soon."  Last weekend when we sat down to eat at a restaurant he looked at the yellow mustard and red ketchup bottles on the table and said, "Red and yellow make orange!"

Wordless Wednesday

Shhhh!

Don't tell my husband, 

but some nights when he doesn't come home,

a very handsome (and much younger) man sometimes joins me in our bed.

We like to stay up late, cuddle up with lots of pillows, eat popcorn and watch cartoons until we fall asleep.

He protects me when I get scared of the "monsters" in our house and always gives me a kiss goodnight.

Shhhh!  Don't say anything.

I don't want my husband to get too jealous!